Indoor hangers: What is your bedding?

**PineMartyn** · 02-13-2013, 18:38

I'm curious what people use for bedding when sleeping indoors in their hammocks.

My wife's out of town all week so I will be sleeping in my new (but used) Hennessy and I was wondering what you indoor hangers find works best for sleeping inside your homes? Sleeping bags? Blankets? Pads or no pads? Any tips, combinations or suggestions?

Last night was my first night in my hammock. I must say, it was more comfortable than I expected. I slept well, despite some anxiety that my DIY whoopie slings might fail or that the wall-anchors I installed earlier that day would give way, but all held well, and when I awoke I didn't have that hit-by-a-truck feeling that I get the first night of sleeping in a tent on my pad. I expect I'll sleep even better tonight.

Since I'm new to this game and have no hammock-specific gear or bedding, I used what I had: my full length Therm-a-Rest Prolite and summer sleeping bag and I turned the heat down low so I wouldn't be too hot in my sleeping bag indoors. I put the pad inside the bag and had no problem with stuff shifting around in the night. I did notice that my feet got cold though, so I had to put on socks in the night, but was fine after that.

Since I have a whole week to experiment on my own, I'd be curious to know what other people's preferences are for bedding in their hammocks when indoors.

As a side note, since it's winter and cold here in Ontario, I'm thinking of turning the heat off completely in my bedroom and leaving the window open just a crack to see if my pad, 3-season bag and reflective blanket beneath me will keep me warm enough in a very cold, but not freezing, room. The reflective blanket I have is a DIY version of this: http://hennessyhammock.com/catalog/p...le_bubble_pad/, but made from those dollar-store mylar windshield reflectors with the thin foam backing, not bubble wrap. I know it wouldn't suffice at all outdoors in winter, but I'm curious how much that will help in a cold room.

My thanks for any input,
- Martin

**BrianWillan** · 02-13-2013, 19:16

Hey Martin

Good to read that your first night in the hammock was an overall success. I believe most full time indoor hangers use a fleece throw or blanket as an underquilt. For a top quilt any temperature and size appropriate blanket will get the job done.

It's even more enviable that you get a full week of indoor hammock test with your wife being out of town.

Cheers

Brian

**PineMartyn** · 02-13-2013, 19:27

Thanks Brian.

Y'know, it never even occurred to me that indoor hangers would bother with an underquilt. Good to know.

Originally Posted by BrianWillan

It's even more enviable that you get a full week of indoor hammock test with your wife being out of town.

As for having the good fortune to test the hammock for a week, yeah...that's really the only good thing about her being away for so long. I was smart enough to wait until she was out of town before drilling the wholes in the walls for my anchor points.

- Martin

**grannypat** · 02-13-2013, 19:59

I use my underquilt and a piece of fleece that I cinched at the bottom.

**Acer** · 02-13-2013, 20:06

50 degree jarbidge and we turn the temp at nite down to 65..hang it loose. I have also used a 40 dgree down UQ loose and ventable, 50 degree top quilt,,sometimes 40 TQ in winter. I am cold natured and its the comfort level I seek. And I sleep all but in the buff.

**HURTHEART** · 02-13-2013, 20:42

Well, be careful about turning off your heat, you do not want to freeze any pipes.

I would besure my bum is well protected from the elements, you surely need a UQ. I think that is the most important. Our family beds are all well padded from under the mattress, that is where the cold tend to come from.

We lived in Williston North Dakota for a winter, we slept with the window open, acturally it froze and we could not get it thawed enough to shut it. It was beastly cold and the wind blew. I put a lot of wool under the beds, we all slept nice and warm. Otherwise we just about froze. We moved from southern Missouri in the Fall of that year, we did not have any winter clothing, because we did not need it while living in the south. My Oregon cold winter clothing was no match for North Dakota, -40 something no chinooks. No snow plows. Then we moved to northern British Columbia, the cold there was not much compared to what Williston threw at us. I even froze my hands trying to open my car door, yes, I had on gloves. A couple of seconds, my hands were white frozen. Lesson learned.

**old4hats** · 02-13-2013, 21:00

The room I sleep in seldom gets below the high 40's, but I just use my underquilt as if I were outside, and because I like it, I use my old Slumber Jack sleeping bag as a top quilt. Works really good for me. The unheated room works for me.

**olddog** · 02-13-2013, 21:28

Here in Florida temps aren't much of a problem but an UQ of something is necessary as I sleep with a fan on me at night. My DIY fulltimer has an attached double layer in the center where I lay which has a 1/2" poly batting attached layer. Just enough to keep the Cold Butt Syndrom (CBS) at bay. As far as top covers I have a fleece layer and a cotton sheet both with footboxes. We don't run any heat at night unless it is getting down toward freezing outside and then the thermostat is set on 50f. During the summer the AC is set in the mid 70's. The fleece and cotton layers are good to the 50's and just the fleece during the summer. Something suprising to me was that alone the cotton sheet is warmer than the fleece alone. This is probably not of much use to my Canadian brother but that's the way I hang every night except when in the woods.

**ka8yiu** · 02-14-2013, 05:04

I just used s-biners to clip a poncho liner to mine and lined it with a one-person heat sheet.

For the top, I un-zipped a 2-season snugpak sleeping bag and it does fine.